Removing a White Background with Photoshop Actions

UPDATED OCTOBER 6, 2017! There are a ton of textures available on the internet, like spray paint drips that have a white background. Usually you will want to to remove the background and then bring it to your design. I created some actions that use alpha channels to remove the white background. These actions are very handy for all types of textures. There are 3 separate actions included in this set.

Samples

Installing Actions

After you have downloaded the file, unzip it and save it to a location that you prefer.

Inside of Photoshop open your Actions Panel by going to Window > Actions

Click on the Actions panel menu and click on the Load Actions menu item. Locate and select the action set file you downloaded, and then click on Load

How to Use

After you have loaded the action set file, open up the image that has a white background you want to remove.

Make sure the layer is named "Background" and that it is selected. The color mode must be set to RGB.

Change your Foreground color to the color you want the output to be

Now choose one of the sets below and click on the play button.

White BG Removal – Alpha: Great if you want to maintain the alpha look of the original file. I usually use this action set the most because you can easily duplicate the final layer a couple of times to make it darker, then merge the layers.

White BG Removal – Maximum Opacity: This is a great way to get a darker final image with a transparent background. After running, you can duplicate the layer a few more times to make it darker.

White BG Removal – with Color: I included this in the Action Set because maintaining color is something you might want, however, use it with a warning that it is not the best way to remove a white background while maintaining color.

Tips

For better results change the levels (CTRL + L) of your file before using one of the actions. You want to make the background.as white as possible.

If you have a black background you can inverse the layer (CTRL + I) and then run the appropriate action. After it run you can inverse the image again.

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About the author

jeya

My name is Jeya and I am one of the founders of Media Militia. I enjoy writing new content and designing something fresh! I currently live in beautiful Reno, Nevada. If you have any ideas or comments, please send me an email at contact@mediamilitia.com.

Did you ever hear about Alphaworks from Cybia? does exactly the same thing, only it’s a plug-in so it’s a bit easier to work with (no need to open the correct file, just open black or white background image, and apply the given plugin, if wrong ctrl z)

hi Jeya (the Author), i have one question for this tut. What if, the color of the background is black like the one in a “paint tossing” some of the objects are in black background, are there any ways to remove the background even if it’s not white?

I had some trouble with them, I think because you’ve given your sample layers names, like “Background” while mine was just called “layer 1”. I modified my version, but I’m surprised it’s working ok for others.

Jeya! This is a fantastic action. This is something I have been looking for a long time and not many Photoshop artist know how to do this. Thanks very much for posting it. You’re very generous with your PS skills.

Tried to install this in Photoshop Elements 9, but I only get one effect, not all three. So I cannot get it to keep the colours.
Are there supposed to only be one ATN file, and if so, do you know how to get Elements 9 to registrer more than one effect?